Implement for using fluid inks



July 10, 1956 B. F. MIESSNER IMPLEMENT FOR USING FLUID INKS Filed Oct. 24, 1950 j f MElJluMLlNE INK 7 %fi FJINK I 7 j g 5 5 HEAVYLINER c54 He Z y), 1956 B. F. MIESSNER 2,753,845

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United States Patent IMPLEMENT FOR USING FLUID INKS Benjamin F. Miessner, Morristown, N. J.

Application October 24, 1950, Serial No. 191,745

3 Claims. (Cl. IMP-45.6)

This invention relates to a novel and useful implement for use in writing, drawing and marking and the like employing fluid inks.

Conventional writing points employ in fact, two writing points known as nibs, which are the split ends of the point, which normally are in contact at their tips, but which are spread by writing pressure so as to spread them apart more or less and establish a capillary ink-flow channel from their butt ends to their tip ends where they contact the surface on which they write. Thus the minute ink channel feeds ink onto this surface in the writing operation. Spreading of these nibs with variable writing pressure of course allows continuously variable writing line width and thus characteristic styles of writing by various individual users of such pens.

More recently however this last mentioned characteristic of such pen points has very largely been vitiated by the use of a hooded construction which extends close to the point ends of the nibs, and which thus restricts the amount of nib spreading with variations of writing pressure. Such modern pens therefore write with a practically constant-width of line, as distinguished from the variable line width of earlier pens, and such operation has been very widely accepted and even preferred.

Accompanying advantages, of this construction are, much increased mechanical protection of the writing point against excessive nib spreading or breakage, as well as maintainance of the wetness of the capillary channel between the nibs for instantaneous writing, and prevention of evaporation from, and in sediment incrustation of, these vital surfaces.

The earliest steel pens with sharply pointed nibs, having a strong tendency to scratch and to block on upward writing strokes by penetration into the paper, have very largely been supplanted by polished, wear-resistant alloy tips of roughly hemi-spherical shape. This construction has greatly improved the writing smoothness of these pens, but there is still much to be desired in writing smoothness, that is, in reduction of the frictional resistance of writing point on paper, and in the prevention of paper surface abrasion or scratching which results in an irregular width of the writing line and a reduction of its legibility. The chief object of my present invention is the production of a writing implement which will greatly improve the smoothness of its operation, eliminate scratchiness, provide a sharply defined writing line of uniform width, and which is extremely simple in form, durable in operation and cheap to manufacture.

I accomplish these objects by use of rectangular wire bent almost 180 at its mid section, with a capillary channel from .001 to a few thousandths of an inch wide at the loop end and somewhat wider at the open end between the two legs of this U-shaped structure. The open end of'this capillary channel receives ink from the ink collector or ink feed bar into which it is fitted, and this ink is led, by gravity and capillary forces to the loop end, where it is available for writing purposes.

Since this channel is narrowest at the bottom of its loop 2,753,845 Patented July 10, 1956 end, any ink in the more widely-separated portions, communicating with the collector or feed bar supply, will always be drawn to this loop or tip end, due to the relatively larger capillary attraction forces there.

I prefer to use rectangular shape wire rather than round wire, as will be later explained, so that the ink will extend to the very edges of the capillary channel, where it will contact the writing surface with a minimum of writing point pressure.

I have found that round wire causes the ink to collect between the two Wire legs of the loop where their separation is smallest, namely, along a line joining their diameters. This causes the ink to be retracted above the writing surface plane joining the peripheries of the two wires, so that pressure is required to indent the round wire arms of the loop into the writing surface, so as to bring the ink into contact with it.

With rectangular wire the ink completely fills the narrow channel between the loop arms, out to the very edge so that but little or no Writing pressure is required to make it contact the writing surface. In fact, such a construction permits writing on extremely hard surfaces such as glass or the like.

My invention is set forth in the annexed drawings wherein,

Figure 1 shows a pen point such as just described made of round wire;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view in the direction of the arrows 33;

Figure 4 is a view at the line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 1 but of a rectangular shaped wire or piece;

Figure 5a is a view of a modified form but showing the round wire flattened into rectangular form at the point end;

Figure 6 is a View similar to Figure 2 but of the device of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is an enlarged view at the lines 7-7 of Figure 6;

Figure 8 is a further enlarged view similar to Figure 7 but at the line 7-7 of a slightly different form of point;

Figure 9 is a view showing the kind of line made by the point of Figure 8;

Figure 10 is an enlarged view similar to Figure 8 but of a further slightly changed form;

Figure 11 is a View showing the kind of line made by the point of Figure 10;

Figure 12 is an enlarged view similar to Figures 8 and 10 but of a slightly changed form of the pen point;

Figure 13 is a view showing the kind of a line made by the point of Figure 12;

Figure 14 is a View partly in section showing the application of my invention to a pen holder;

Figure 15 is a view of Figure 14 showing the point of Figure 14 in longitudinal action;

Figure 16 is a view of the same pen held in position of Figure 17 showing the pen in transverse motion;

Figure 17 is a view of the pen in another position of operation;

Figure 18 is a view of the same pen in another position of operation;

Figure 19 is a view of the written work of the pen held as in Figure 18;

Figure 20 is a view of a pen quite similar to the construction shown in Figure 5;

Figure 21 is a view on the line 21-21 of Figure 20;

Figure 22 shows the device of Figure 20 with its tip ground to a finer point;

Figure 23 is a side view of Figure 22;

Figure 24 is a section on the line 24--24 of Figure 23;

Figure 25 is a view of a modified form of construction in which the material is folded laterally out of one piece instead of being folded longitudinally as shown in Fig; are 20;

Figure 26 is a sectional view on the line 26-26 of Figure 25;

Figure 27 is aview on the line 27-2 '7 of Figure 25;

Figure 27a is a view onthe line 27a27a of Figure 25;

Figure 28 is a view of the left hand end of the device shown in Figures 2 and 26;

Figure 29 is a sectional view through the split in the pen point shown in Figure 25;

Figure 30 shows thetype of; lines made by a pen point such as illustrated in Figure 5 or 22 when the pen is held in nearly vertical position;

Figure 31 is a view similar to Figure 30 but with the pen held in about'a 50 angle to the paper;

Figure 32 is a view similar to Figures and 31 but with the pen held at a angle of about 30 to the paper;

Figure 33 shows the type of. line made with the pen starting in the position that made the lines in Figure 32 and then raised to vertical position as the pen was moved;

Figure 34 showshow the pen may be used in reversed position wherein lines may be made about as shown in Figure 30 when the pen is held at a 50 angle;

Figure 35 shows the pen held in a vertical position to make the lines as shown in Figure 30 and at the right hand end of Figure 33.

Referring now to the. details wherein like numbers refer to corresponding parts, in Figure 1 the pen point is made up up a piece of round wire having two arms I and 2, the left hand end of the device being bent up at 3 so as to make a writing contact point 4. It will be seen from Figures 3 and 4 that the ink is held by capillary attraction between the closely separated parts 1 and 2 of the channel formed by these parts and'that the ink will not contact the writing surface unless enough pressure is applied to indent its surface and bridge the gap.

In Figures 5 and 6 the pen point is .formed of rectangularly shaped wire having similar arms ll and 2 and shoot up portion 3. In this construction as will be seen from Figures 7, 8, and 12 the ink will move down on thearms 1 and 2 and come outreadily at the point of contact with the paper, different widths of lines being made point will not scratch or rub the writing surfaces par ticularly in the lateral written structures as shown in Figures 16 and 19. The loop portion 3 to the left ofthe section line 7-7 is preferably highly polished to lessen the writing friction. In Figure So I have shown how the difficulties of using round wire may be obviated by flattening the wire at 6 where the loop Sand bend is to be made. When this construction is used the contact surfaces are formed as already described with respect to Figures 5 and 6.

The material for this construction is preferably of very hard and tough alloy such as that used to make the tips of conventional pen nibs, and it should also be nonoxidizing, corrosion free and springy to give quick accent to the line being made by pressure on. the point without changing the pen angle as will be directly referred to.

From what has been said, it will be seen that these writing points may be made to produce narrow or wide ink lines by variations in the curvature of the portion 3 and also by the thicknessv of the arms 1 and 2 as well as by the width of the capillary channel between these arms and the opening in the loop.

In Figures 5l9 the pen points generally referred to as 7, are shown connected to the usual type of hood 8 that is adapted to be connected to an ink or fluid .container 9. The hood has means, such as the passageway 10, for passing ink or fluid from the container 9 to the pen point 7. By holding the pen at different angles as shown in Figures l4l9 the pen point will make fine or coarse lines or by transverse motion, as shown in Figure 16 the thin line can be moved into a heavy line. The useful application of this is clearly shown in Figure 19 where the letter F is made with various shadings.

The hood 8 may have an ink or fluid feed bar or collector with a tapered rectangular hole for the construction such as shown in Figures 5 and 6 etc., and the depth of the hole of course, should be such that the proper projectionof the loopposition of the pen will be in proper writing position. The pen point may be inserted into the hole by pressing the separated arms together and pushing the device into the hole and the outwardly biased arms will then hold the pen in position and the rectangular shaped hole for the arms will prevent the butt of the pen from turning in the holder. At the same time, the separation between the arms 1 and 2 will be established as well as the width of the ink channel through the pen point.

Intheconstruction in Figures 20-24 the pen if formed by bending or punching up a piece of suitable metal so that the rectangularly shaped arms 1 and 2 are relatively close together at 11- being about .002" and at the end 12 separated at'about .005 which is about the construction shown in Figure 5. However, in Figure 22 the writing end 13 is formed by grinding off the arms indicated at 14 thereby bringing the turned up point 15 to an opening 16 that will produce a fine line such as indicated in Figure 30.

In Figures 25 to 29 the pen is formed by laterally folding up a piece of suitable metal 17 so as to leave a gap tapering from the point end 19 to the opposite end of the piece as shown in Figure 29. In this type of construction the pen may be used in vertical position as shown in Figure, 35 or in an upside-down as shown in Figure 34. A space between the two sides of this form of pen define a capillary ink-feed channel in which the widely separated end is connected to the ink container through the medium of the usual feed bar. The character of thelines which these pens will make is further shown in Figures 30-32 inclusive as set forth in their particular description. Since this pen has its sides separated by .001 to .002 at the left end as compared to about .005 at about the other end, the capillary action is greater at the tip and any ink feed in the butt end will be further drawn in to the pen end and down into the rounded dual tip. where it can be used by writing in any position except when the flat side of the point is parallel to the paper, but even then it will write in that position which is the-least effective.

Since thetype of pens so far described have a looped writing v end without the usual nib points, their writing friction is much lower: than that of conventional dual nib pointsand therefore they will write with incomparable smoothness and since they are made of one piece of bent, punched or folded'material they are extremely simple, durable and inexpensive tomanufacture.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the implements described are versatile in character and can be used as ruling, signing, and lettering, fountain and dip devices with fiuidinks of different kinds and colors,

So far as I am aware from a study of-the art and the inkv dispensers thathave been put on the market, I believe the structures herein disclosed are new, novel and highly useful-and I therefore do not wish to be unduly limited in the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. An implement especially adapted for writing purposes and using fluid inks including an ink container and a device operatively connected thereto, said device having generally a single close U shape with the bend turned upwardly, from the plane of the U arms, thereby forming a single small dispensing area, at least the material at the bend being approximately rectangular in cross section but with the lower edges preferably rounded.

2. An implement especially adapted for writing purposes utilizing fluid inks including an ink container and a device operatively connected thereto, said device being made from suitable metal, the device having two slightly spaced arms joined by a U shaped bend, the arms extending in the same general direction but spreading slightly toward their free ends, while at least the bend portion is preferably rectangular in cross section and turned upwardly from the plane of the arms, the lower parts of the upwardly turned portion being rounded off to present a single smooth contact operating surface, which has a thin space therebetween to feed the fluid.

3. A pen point having a pair of slightly spaced parts forming a vertical separation between them integrally connected at its writing end by an upturned portion, at least a part of which forms a writing contact area having a narrow separation therein to feed fluid to said contact area.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 580,529 Moore Apr. 13, 1897 2,153,032 Albin Apr. 4, 1939 2,273,702 George Feb. 17, 1942 2,464,763 McClure Mar. 15, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 165,665 Great Britain July 7, 1921 168,196 Great Britain Sept. 1, 1921 

